The Maine Woods

About this book

Henry D. Thoreau traveled to the backwoods of Maine in 1846, 1853, and 1857. Originally published in 1864, and published now with a new introduction by Paul Theroux, The Maine Woods is a powerful telling of those journeys through a rugged and largely unspoiled land. It presents Thoreau's fullest account of the wilderness.

The Maine Woods is classic Thoreau: a personal story of exterior and interior discoveries in a natural setting – all conveyed in taut, masterly prose. Thoreau's evocative renderings of the life of the primitive forest – its mountains, waterways, fauna, flora, and inhabitants – are timeless and valuable on their own. But his impassioned protest against the despoilment of nature in the name of commerce and sport, which even by the 1850s threatened to deprive Americans of the "tonic of wildness," makes The Maine Woods an especially vital book for our own time.

Contents

Map of the Maine Woods viii
Introduction by Paul Theroux ix
Ktaadn 3
Chesuncook 84
The Allegash and East Branch 157

Appendix 298
I. Trees
II. Flowers and Shrubs
III. List of Plants
IV. List of Birds
V. Quadrupeds
VI. Outfit for an Excursion
VII. A List of Indian Words

Index by Paul O.Williams 327

Customer Reviews

Biography

Paul Theroux is a travel writer who is widely credited with reviving the genre in 1975 with his The Great Railway Bazaar. Among his other books are the novels Chicago Loop and Mosquito Coast. He lives on Cape Cod and in Hawaii.